This banana and walnut loaf is very easy to make and great to serve with a refreshing cup of coffee. It’s a great way to use up those over-ripe bananas, and if you fancy a change why not experiment with chopped almonds, or mixed nuts?

Ingredients

5oz…5/8 cup sugar
2oz…1/4 cup butter or margarine, plus enough for greasing the tin
3 eggs
4 bananas, mashed
8oz…2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
6 oz…1 cup chopped walnuts

One 9 inch loaf tin, greased

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Preheat the oven to moderate 350 deg F, 180 deg C, Gas mark 4

Use a medium size mixing bowl to beat together the sugar, fat and eggs with a wooden spoon until the mixture is light and fluffy.

Gently beat in the bananas which have already been mashed, and then sift the flour, baking powder, salt and soda into the mixture and beat well. Stir in the chopped walnuts.

The mixture is poured into the greased loaf tin and baked for one hour until a stick or skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

When cooked, allow to cool for a few minutes before turning the loaf out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Cut this moist loaf cake into thick slices and serve with a fresh cup of coffee. Delicious!

There are so many fruit cake recipes it’s difficult to know where to start!

Everybody has their favourite recipe – either handed down through the family or discovered hiding on the page of a cookery book or magazine. I love fruit cake recipes, in fact, I probably enjoy making fruit cakes more than anything else, even more than luxurious chocolate cakes. There’s something so wholesome about all that dried fruit, and so many of the good fruit cakes include a splash of alcohol!

Here’s a slightly different fruit cake recipe with a splash of rum and full of raisins, dates, whole glace cherries and nuts.

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Fruit Cake With Mixed Nuts

Ingredients

8 oz glace cherries
2 oz (1/3 cup) chopped candied peel
3 fl oz (3/8 cup) rum
1 tsp butter
The grated rind of 1 lemon
3 oz (1/2 cup) seedless raisins
7 oz (1 1/4 cups) stoned and chopped dates
5 oz (1 cup) chopped walnuts
5 oz (1 cup) chopped almonds
4 oz (1 cup) flour
6 oz (3/4 cup) sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs

Grease a deep, round 8 inch cake tin and line with greaseproof or waxed paper.

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Preheat the oven to 300 deg F, 150 deg C, Gas Mark 2.

Mix the candied peel and cherries in a bowl with the rum and leave to soak, giving the mixture an occasional stir. After 30-45 minutes drain the fruit from the rum, keeping the rum for later. Soak the fruit in the rum for longer to make a really succulent fruit cake.

Using a wooden spoon, gently mix all the fruit in a bowl with the nuts, before sifting in the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Mix gently but thoroughly until all the fruit is lightly coated with the flour mixture.

Beat the eggs and add to the dry ingredients, stirring gently until thoroughly mixed. Spoon the mixture from the bowl into the prepared cake tin and bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours until cooked. As usual, test with a skewer or cocktail stick – when inserted into the centre it should come out clean. The top of the cake can be protected with some foil if it starts to burn during baking.

When cooked, remove the cake from the oven and carefully pour or spoon the rum over the hot cake. It will provide a slight glaze when cool. After about 30 minutes cooling in the tin, carefully remove the cake from the tin but wait until completely cool before removing the greaseproof or waxed paper.

Make a nice cup of tea or coffee and enjoy a slice of homemade cake while browsing for more fruit cake recipes!